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Politics of European Integration Political Union or a
House Divided 1st Edition Andrew Glencross Digital
Instant Download
Author(s): Andrew Glencross
ISBN(s): 9781405193948, 1405193948
Edition: 1
File Details: PDF, 11.48 MB
Year: 2014
Language: english
The Politics of
European
Integration
 About the website

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 The Politics of
European
Integration
Political Union or a House Divided?

Andrew Glencross
This edition first published 2014
© 2014 Andrew Glencross

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The politics of European integration : political union or a house divided? / Andrew Glencross.
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ISBN 978-1-4051-9394-8 (Paperback) – ISBN 978-1-4051-9395-5 (cloth) 1. European Union–Politics
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1 2014
 Contents

List of Figures xi
List of Tables xiii
List of Timelines xv
List of Boxes xvii
Acknowledgments xix

Introduction 1

PART I THE HISTORY OF EUROPEAN INTEGRATION 11

1 The Idea of Europe: Foundations and Justifications for Unity 13
1.0 Introduction: What and Where Is Europe? 14
1.1 The Historical Background to Thinking about European Unity 16
1.2 Early Ideas and Pioneers of Unity 18
1.2.1 William Penn 19
1.2.2 Abbot Saint Pierre 19
1.2.3 Immanuel Kant 20
1.2.4 Aristide Briand 21
1.3 The Peace or Civilizing Justification for Unity 22
1.4 The Prosperity Justification for Unity 24
1.5 The Strengthening State Capacity Justification for Unity 26
1.6 Concluding Summary 28
2 The Institutional Development of European Integration,
1945–1973 33
2.0 Introduction: Uniting for Peace 34
2.1 The Struggle to Resolve Post-War Security and
Economic Issues, 1945–1951 36
2.2 The Creation of the European Coal and
Steel Community (ECSC) in 1951 38
vi Contents

2.3 The Functioning of the ECSC and the Attempt at Full Military
and Political Union, 1951–1957 42
2.4 The Continuing Pursuit of Economic Integration:
Creating the EEC, 1957 45
2.5 Overcoming the First Tests: The Common Agricultural Policy
and the Empty Chair Crisis, 1957–1973 47
2.5.1 The launch of the Common Agricultural Policy 48
2.5.2 The empty chair crisis 49
2.6 Concluding Summary 51
3 The Institutional Development of European Integration,
1973–2010 57
3.0 Introduction: The Widening and Deepening of
European Integration 58
3.1 Living with the First Enlargement Round and
Preparing for the Next, 1973–1986 60
3.1.1 Mediterranean enlargement and strengthening democracy 61
3.1.2 The British budget contribution dispute 62
3.2 Completing the Single Market as a Prelude to Monetary
and Political Union, 1986–1992 65
3.2.1 French, German, and British perspectives on the SEA 66
3.3 Designing European Unity for the Post-Cold War Era, 1992–2004 68
3.3.1 Negotiating the Maastricht Treaty, 1992 69
3.3.2 Preparing for a new enlargement 71
3.4 From Constitutional Failure to the Lisbon Treaty, 2004–2010 73
3.4.1 The Constitutional Treaty, 2004 74
3.4.2 The Lisbon Treaty, 2009 75
3.5 Concluding Summary 77

PART II ANALYZING INTEGRATION 83

4 The EU’s Institutional Dynamics 85
4.0 Introduction: The Functioning of the EU 86
4.1 An Overview of the Dynamics of EU Policy-Making 87
4.2 The Ordinary Legislative Procedure (OLP) 89
4.2.1 The role of the Commission 89
4.2.2 The legislative institutions: The Council of the EU and
the European Parliament 93
4.3 The Role of Interest Groups and Experts 95
4.3.1 Assessing the influence of interest group lobbying 96
4.4 The Commission’s Watchdog Role and the Importance of the CJEU 99
4.4.1 The development of the Court of Justice’s powers 100
4.5 Special Provisions for Foreign Policy 104
4.5.1 The legal basis and decision-making structure of
EU foreign policy 104
4.6 Concluding Summary 106
 Contents vii

5 EU Policy-Making in Action: Major EU Policies 111

5.0 Introduction: The EU’s Major Policy Areas 112
5.1 The EU Budget 113
5.2 The Euro 115
5.2.1 Preparing for European Monetary Union 115
5.3 The Single Market 118
5.3.1 Pursuing deregulation or negative integration 118
5.3.2 Pursuing re-regulation or positive integration 119
5.3.3 The single market as a work in progress 120
5.4 Social and Environmental Policy 122
5.4.1 EU environmental policy 123
5.5 Justice and Citizenship 125
5.5.1 Immigration, border control, and citizenship rights 126
5.6 Enlargement 128
5.6.1 Conditions placed on admitting new members 129
5.7 Concluding Summary 131
6 The EU in Comparative Perspective 137
6.0 Introduction: Why Compare? 138
6.1 The EU Compared with Federal States 139
6.1.1 Why depict the EU as a federation? 139
6.1.2 Explaining EU Politics using Federalism 142
6.2 The EU Compared with International Organizations 143
6.2.1 The absence of reciprocity or the quid pro quo principle
in the EU 144
6.2.2 Explaining why the EU has integrated more 145
6.3 The sui generis Interpretation 148
6.3.1 Three facets of EU uniqueness 149
6.3.2 Explaining why European integration looks unique 151
6.4 Concluding Summary 153

PART III DEBATING THE EU SYSTEM AND ITS POLICY OUTPUTS 159
7 EU Internal Policies: The Theory, Practice, and
Politics of Regulation 161
7.0 Introduction: Regulatory Outputs and EU Politics 162
7.1 Regulatory Theory and European Integration 163
7.1.1 Regulating against market failure 164
7.1.2 The debate over how to regulate 165
7.2 EU Regulation in Practice 167
7.2.1 Deregulation in practice 167
7.2.2 Regulating for common standards and its effectiveness 170
7.3 Not Just a Regulatory State: The Politics of EU Regulatory Outputs 171
7.3.1 The politics of deregulation 171
7.3.2 Balancing winning and losing sides in regulatory outputs 174
7.3.3 How political preferences influence regulatory outputs 175
viii Contents

7.4 Theorizing EU Regulation and Explaining Its Effects 177

7.4.1 Explaining the growth of EU regulation 177
7.4.2 Theorizing the consequences of EU regulation 179
7.5 Concluding Summary 180
8 The Institutionalization of EU Foreign Policy and Debates
over the EU’s International Role 185
8.0 Introduction: What Is at Stake in Understanding EU
Foreign Relations? 186
8.1 The Institutions and Institutionalization of EU Foreign Policy 187
8.1.1 The Common Foreign and Security Policy and the
Common Security and Defence Policy 188
8.1.2 Building capacity 189
8.2 The Debate over EU Foreign Policy Effectiveness 192
8.2.1 The Transatlantic dimension 193
8.2.2 Finding consensus 195
8.3 The Ideological Debate over the Aims of EU Foreign Policy 197
8.3.1 The EU as a normative power? 198
8.4 The Explanatory Debate over EU Foreign Policy 201
8.4.1 Power and interests as explanatory factors 201
8.4.2 Identity as an explanatory factor 202
8.5 Concluding Summary 205
9 What Model for Uniting Europe? 211
9.0 Introduction: Competing Models of European Integration 212
9.1 Federalism 213
9.1.1 Problems with the federal vision 214
9.2 Confederalism 216
9.2.1 Proposals for more confederalism in the EU 219
9.3 The Networked Governance Model 220
9.3.1 Concerns about legitimacy and effectiveness 223
9.4 The Differentiated Integration Model 224
9.4.1 Differentiation to allow some countries to integrate more 226
9.5 Concluding Summary 228

PART IV DEMOCRACY AND INTEGRATION 233

10 Democracy in the European Union 235
10.0 Introduction: More Integration, More Democracy? 236
10.1 Democratic Accountability in the EU: Beyond Majoritarianism 237
10.1.1 Accountability without majoritarianism 239
10.2 The Democratic Deficit Debate 241
10.2.1 The procedural critique of EU democracy: A lack of
responsiveness to citizens 242
10.2.2 The normative critique of EU democracy: The narrowing
of political alternatives 246
10.2.3 The case against a democratic deficit 248
 Contents ix

10.3 Enhancing Democracy in the EU 249

10.3.1 Adding parliamentary or presidential features 249
10.3.2 Developing transnational parties and enhancing indirect
accountability 250
10.3.3 Obstacles to enhancing EU democracy 253
10.4 Concluding Summary 255
11 The Impact of European Integration on National Politics 261
11.0 Introduction: Political Adaptation to European Integration 262
11.1 European Integration and National Politics: The End of the
Permissive Consensus 263
11.1.1 The emergence of a “constraining dissensus” 264
11.2 Euroskepticism and Its Varieties 267
11.2.1 When and where euroskepticism is expressed 267
11.2.2 Hard euroskepticism 271
11.2.3 Soft euroskepticism 272
11.3 National Referendums on EU Issues 273
11.3.1 Why hold referendums? 274
11.3.2 The political dynamics of referendum campaigns 276
11.4 Concluding Summary 278
12 Integration and Democracy in the Shadow of the
Eurozone Debt Crisis 285
12.0 Introduction: The Eurozone Crisis as a Challenge to Democracy
and Integration 286
12.1 The Causes of the Eurozone Crisis 288
12.1.1 Benefits and concerns surrounding the European
Monetary Union (EMU) 288
12.1.2 The global financial crisis’ effect on the Eurozone 290
12.2 The Travails of Formulating an EU Response 292
12.2.1 Deciding whether to provide a bailout and on what terms 293
12.2.2 The Fiscal Compact and moves toward a banking union 295
12.3 Criticism and Controversies Surrounding the EU Response 297
12.3.1 Democratic decision-making? 298
12.3.2 The right response? 299
12.3.3 Who is to blame? 302
12.4 Conclusion: What the Crisis Means for the Future of Integration 305

Index 311
 List of Figures

0.1 Map of contemporary EU 2

0.2 Diagram of EU institutional decision-making 6
4.1 Diagram of the EU legal system 102
5.1 Budget deficits (as % of GDP) in Eurozone countries (2012) 117
10.1 Voter turnout in the EU: European parliamentary elections and
national elections 245
10.2 Average voter turnout in elections for the European Parliament,
1979–2009 245
11.1 Citizens’ “tendency to trust” the EU and national government 270
12.1 The vicious cycle of government debt and weak growth in the Eurozone 300
 List of Tables

1.1 Average GDP growth of large economies, 1970–2009 25

2.1 The EEC institutions 46
2.2 Forms of regional association 48
3.1 Number of MEPs per EU country (2013) 63
4.1 List of Commissioners’ policy portfolios (2012) 90
4.2 List of Council configurations 93
5.1 Candidates for EU membership (correct as of July 2013) 129
8.1 EU CSDP civilian missions and military operations (2003–2013) 190
8.2 National contributions to the EU Anti-Piracy Mission (July 2009) 191
 List of Timelines

1.1 The Historical Background to European Integration 14

2.1 End of Second World War to UK Accession to EEC (1945–1973) 34
3.1 First EEC Enlargement to Lisbon Treaty (1973–2010) 58
12.1 The Eurozone Crisis (2008–2013) 286
 List of Boxes

1.1 Key Debate: Where Are the Boundaries of Europe? 15

1.2 Key Concept: The Balance of Power 18
1.3 Case Study: The Prosperity Justification in Action 25
2.1 Key Debate: European Integration and NATO 39
2.2 Key Concept: Supranationalism and Intergovernmentalism 40
2.3 Case Study: Treaty Ratification 44
3.1 Key Debate: The Pros and Cons of Enlargement 61
3.2 Case Study: The United Kingdom: An Awkward European Partner? 64
3.3 Key Concept: The Enlargement Process 72
4.1 Key Debate: A More Political Commission? 92
4.2 Case Study: Lobbying under the OLP 98
4.3 Key Concept: The Constitutionalization of the EU 103
5.1 Key Concept: The Stability and Growth Pact 116
5.2 Key Debate: Neoliberalism versus the Social Market 122
5.3 Case Study: The European Arrest Warrant 127
6.1 Key Debate: Does the EU Require a “Constitutional Moment”? 140
6.2 Case Study: The EU and Membership of International Organizations 146
6.3 Key Concept: The Knowledge Deficit about the EU 149
7.1 Key Concept: The Left–Right Divide in European Politics 166
7.2 Key Debate: Does Integration Lead to Social Dumping and a Race to
the Bottom? 169
7.3 Case Study: The Rise of the Regulatory State 172
8.1 Key Concept: The EU and Soft Power 196
8.2 Case Study: EU Sanctions 200
8.3 Key Debate: Multilateralism as the Preference of the Weak? 203
9.1 Key Debate: Is Europe Ready for Federalism? 216
9.2 Key Concept: The Structural Weakness of Confederation 217
9.3 Case Study: Open Method of Coordination 222
10.1 Key Concept: European Elections as Second‑Order Contests 238
xviii List of Boxes

10.2 Key Debate: The “No Demos” Problem 243

10.3 Case Study: Enhancing National Parliamentary Scrutiny:
The Danish Example 252
11.1 Case Study: European Integration and the Growth of Regionalism 266
11.2 Key Concept: Public Opinion and the EU 270
11.3 Key Debate: Are National Referendums a Good Idea? 278
12.1 Key Concept: Sovereign Default 292
12.2 Case Study: The Evolving Role of the ECB 294
12.3 Key Debate: The Eurozone Split over Eurobonds 303
Discovering Diverse Content Through
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possession of Russia. The regions under the authority of the Russian
14
Fur Company occupy an immense space, as they comprise not only
all the islands of Bering Sea, but also the American coasts down to
55° N. lat. The extreme points of this vast territory are situated at a
greater distance from each other than London from Tobolsk, but the
importance of its trade bears no proportion to its extent.
The company, which was founded in the year 1799, under the
Emperor Paul, had, in 1839, thirty-six hunting settlements on its own
territory (the Kurile Islands, the Aleutic chain, Aliaska, Bristol Bay,
Cook’s Inlet, Norton Sound, etc.), besides a chain of agencies from
Ochotsk to St. Petersburg. Its chief seat is New Archangel, on Sitka,
one of the many islands of King George III.’s Archipelago, first
accurately explored by Vancouver. The magnificent Bay of Norfolk, at
the head of which the small town is situated, greatly resembles a
Norwegian fjord, as we here find the same steep rock-walls bathing
their precipitous sides in the emerald waters, and clothed with dense
pine forests wherever a tree can grow.
A number of islets scattered over the surface of the bay add to
the beauty of the scene. The furs collected by the company are
chiefly those of sea-bears, sea-otters, foxes, beavers, bears, lynxes,
American martens, etc., and are partly furnished by the subjects of
its own territory (Aleuts, Kadjacks, Kenaïzes, Tchugatchi, Aliaskans),
who are compelled to hunt on its account, and partly obtained by
barter from the independent tribes of the mainland, or from the
Hudson’s Bay Company. The greater part is sent to Ochotsk or the
Amoor, and from thence through Siberia to St. Petersburg; the rest
to the Chinese ports, where the skins of the young sea-bear always
find a ready market.
Of all the aboriginal tribes which inhabit the vast territory of
Russian America, the most worthy of notice is that of the Aleuts.
Less fortunate than their independent relatives, the Esquimaux of
the north—who in the midst of privations maintain an imperturbable
gayety of temper—these islanders have been effectually spirit-
broken under a foreign yoke. In 1817 the cruel treatment of their
masters had reduced them to about a thousand; since that time
their number has somewhat increased, the company having at
length discovered that man is, after all, the most valuable production
of a land, and that if depopulation increased still further, they would
soon have no more hunters to supply them with furs.
Every Aleut is bound, after his eighteenth year, to serve the
company three years; and this forced labor-tax does not seem at
first sight immoderate, but if we consider that the islanders, to
whom every foreign article is supplied from the warehouses of the
company, are invariably its debtors, we can not doubt that as long as
the Aleut is able to hunt, he is obliged to do so for the wages of a
slave. The Bishop Ivan Weniaminow, who resided ten years at
Unalaska, draws a picture of this people which exhibits evident
marks of a long servitude. They never quarrel among each other,
and their patience is exemplary. Nothing can surpass the fortitude
with which they endure pain. On the other hand, they never show
excessive joy; it seems impossible to raise their feelings to the pitch
of delight. Even after a long fast, a child never grasps with
eagerness the proffered morsel, nor does it on any occasion exhibit
the mirth so natural to its age.
In hunting the marine animals, the Aleuts exhibit a wonderful
skill and intrepidity. To catch the sea-otter, they assemble in April or
May at an appointed spot, in their light skin boats, or baidars, and
choose one of their most respected chiefs for the leader of the
expedition, which generally numbers from fifty to a hundred boats.
Such hunting-parties are annually organized from the Kurile Islands
to Kadjack, and consequently extend their operations over a line of
3000 miles. On the first fine day the expedition sets out and
proceeds to a distance of about forty versts from the coast, when
the baidars form into a long line, leaving an interval of about 250
fathoms from boat to boat, as far as a sea-otter diving out of the
water can be seen, so that a row of thirty baidars occupies a space
of from ten to twelve versts. When the number of the boats is
greater, the intervals are reduced. Every man now looks upon the
sea with great attention. Nothing escapes the eye of the Aleut; in
the smallest black spot appearing but one moment over the surface
of the waters, he at once recognizes a sea-otter. The baidar which
first sees the animal rows rapidly towards the spot where the
creature dived, and now the Aleut, holding his oar straight up in the
air, remains motionless on the spot. Immediately the whole
squadron is on the move, and the long, straight line changes into a
wide circle, the centre of which is occupied by the baidar with the
raised oar. The otter, not being able to remain long under water,
reappears, and the nearest Aleut immediately greets him with an
arrow. This first attack is seldom mortal; very often the missile does
not even reach its mark, and the sea-otter instantly disappears.
Again the oar rises from the next baidar; again the circle forms, but
this time narrower than at first; the fatigued otter is obliged to come
oftener to the surface, arrows fly from all sides, and finally the
animal, killed by a mortal shot, or exhausted by repeated wounds,
falls to the share of the archer who has hit it nearest to the head. If
several otters appear at the same time, the boats form as many
rings, provided their number be sufficiently great.
The boldest of all hunters, the Aleuts of the Fox Islands, pursue
the sea-otter also in winter. If, during the summer chase, the rapidity
and regularity with which all the movements are performed, and the
sure eye and aim of the archers command the spectator’s
admiration, this winter chase gives him occasion to wonder at their
courage. During the severest winter-storms the otter shelters himself
on the shore of some small uninhabited island or on a solitary rock,
and after having carefully ascertained that no enemy is near, coils
himself up and falls asleep. While the storm still rages, two Aleuts
approach the rock in two single baidars from the leeward. The
hunter in the foremost baidar stands upright, a gun or a club in his
hand, and waits in this position till a wave brings him near to the
summit of the rock. He now springs on land, and while his
companion takes care of the baidar, approaches the sleeping otter
and shoots it or kills it with his club. With the assistance of his
companion who has remained on the water, he springs back into his
baidar as soon as the crest of a wave brings it within his reach.
 The sea-bear is nearly as valuable as the sea-otter to the fur
company, as the woolly skin of the young animal is the only one of
the whole seal tribe which is reckoned among the finer peltry. The
sea-bears are chiefly killed on the Commodore and Pribilow islands,
particularly on St. Paul, where they are hunted by a certain number
of Aleuts located there under Russian superintendence. The chase
begins in the latter part of September, on a cold, foggy day, when
the wind blows from the side where the animals are assembled on
the rocky shore. The boldest huntsmen open the way, then follow
the older people and the children, and the chief personage of the
band comes last, to be the better able to direct and survey the
movements of his men, who are all armed with clubs. The main
object is to cut off the herd as quickly as possible from the sea. All
the grown-up males and females are spared and allowed to escape,
but most of the young animals are sentenced to death. Those which
are only four months old (their furs being most highly prized) are
doomed without exception; while of the others that have attained an
age of one, two, or three years, only the males are killed. For several
days after the massacre, the mothers swim about the island, seeking
and loudly wailing for their young.
From October 5 St. Paul is gradually deserted by the sea-bears,
who then migrate to the south and re-appear towards the end of
April, the males arriving first. Each seeks the same spot on the shore
which he occupied during the preceding year, and lies down among
the large stone blocks with which the flat beach is covered. About
the middle of May the far more numerous females begin to make
their appearance, and the sea-bear families take full possession of
the strand. Each male is the sultan of a herd of females, varying in
number according to his size and strength; the weaker brethren
contenting themselves with half a dozen, while some of the sturdier
and fiercer fellows preside over harems 200 strong. Jealousy and
intrusion frequently give rise to terrible battles. The full-grown male
sea-bear, who is about four or five times larger than the female,
grows to the length of eight feet, and owes his name to his shaggy
blackish fur, and not to his disposition, which is far from being cruel
or savage.
Armed with a short spear, a single Aleut does not hesitate to
attack the colossal whale. Approaching cautiously from behind in his
baidar until he reaches the head, he plunges his weapon into the
animal’s flank under the fore fin, and then retreats as fast as his oar
can carry him. If the spear has penetrated into the flesh, the whale
is doomed; it dies within the next two or three days, and the
currents and the waves drift the carcass to the next shore. Each
spear has its peculiar mark by which the owner is recognized.
Sometimes the baidar does not escape in time, and the whale,
maddened by pain, furiously lashes the water with his tail, and
throws the baidar high up into the air, or sinks it deep into the sea.
The whale-fishers are highly esteemed among the Aleuts, and their
intrepidity and skill well deserve the general admiration. Of course
many of the whales are lost. In the summer of 1831, 118 whales
were wounded near Kadjack, of which only forty-three were found.
The others may have been wafted far out into the sea to regale the
sharks and sea-birds, or driven to more distant shores, whose
inhabitants no doubt gladly welcomed their landing. Wrangell
informs us that since 1833 the Russians have introduced the use of
the harpoon, and engaged some English harpooners to teach the
Aleuts a more profitable method of whale-catching, but we are not
told how the experiment has succeeded.
The company, besides purchasing a great quantity of walrus-
teeth from the Tchuktchi of the Bering’s Straits and Bristol Bay, send
every year a detachment of Aleuts to the north coast of Aliaska,
where generally a large number of young walruses, probably driven
away by the older ones, who prefer the vicinity of the polar ice,
spend the summer months.
The walruses herd on the lowest edge of the coast which is
within reach of the spring tides. When the Aleuts prepare to attack
the animals, they take leave of each other as if they were going to
face death, being no less afraid of the tusks of the walruses than of
the awkwardness of their own companions. Armed with lances and
heavy axes, they stealthily approach the walruses, and having
disposed their ranks, suddenly fall upon them with loud shouts, and
endeavor to drive them from the sea, taking care that none of them
escape into the water, as in that case the rest would irresistibly
follow and precipitate the huntsmen along with them. As soon as the
walruses have been driven far enough up the strand, the Aleuts
attack them with their lances, striking at them in places where the
hide is not so thick, and then pressing with all their might against
the spear, to render the wound deep and deadly. The slaughtered
animals tumble one over the other and form large heaps, whilst the
huntsmen, uttering furious shouts and intoxicated with carnage,
wade through the bloody mire. They then cleave the jaws and
extract the tusks, which are the chief objects of the slaughter of
several thousand walruses, since neither their flesh nor their fat is
made use of in the colony. The carcasses are left on the shore to be
washed away by the spring tides, which soon efface the mark of the
massacre, and in the following year the inexhaustible north sends
new victims to the coast.
Sir George Simpson, in his “Overland Journey round the World,”
relates that the bales of fur sent to Kiachta are covered with walrus
hide; it is then made to protect the tea-chests which find their way
to Moscow, and after all these wanderings, the far-travelled skin
returns again to New Archangel, where, cut into small pieces and
stamped with the company’s mark, it serves as a medium of
exchange.
The skin of the sea-lion (Otaria Stelleri) has but little value in the
fur-trade, as its hair is short and coarse, but in many other respects
the unwieldy animal is of considerable use to the Aleut. Its hide
serves to cover his baidar; with the entrails he makes his water-tight
kamleika, a wide, long shirt which he puts on over his dress to
protect himself against the rain or the spray; the thick webs of its
flippers furnish excellent soles for his boots, and the bristles of its lip
figure as ornaments in his head-dress.
101. FORT ST. MICHAEL.
 CHAPTER XXVI.
ALASKA.
Purchase of Alaska by the United States.—The Russian American
Telegraph Scheme.—Whymper’s Trip up the Yukon.—Dogs.—The Start.
—Extempore Water-filter.—Snow-shoes.—The Frozen Yukon.—Under-
ground Houses.—Life at Nulato.—Cold Weather.—Auroras.—Approach
of Summer.—Breaking-up of the Ice.—Fort Yukon.—Furs.—Descent of
the Yukon.—Value of Goods.—Arctic and Tropical Life.—Moose-hunting.
—Deer-corrals.—Lip Ornaments.—Canoes.—Four-post Coffin.—The
Kenaian Indians.—The Aleuts.—Value of Alaska.

I N 1867 the Russian Government sold to the United States all of

its possessions in America, comprising an area of more than
500,000 square miles, equal in extent to France, Germany, and Great
Britain, stretching from 54° 40´ north latitude to the Arctic Ocean.
The sum paid was about seven and a quarter millions of dollars. In
this purchase is included Mount St. Elias, the highest peak in North
America, rising to a height of more than 18,000 feet, and one of the
loftiest single peaks on the globe. The real value of this new
acquisition was quite unknown to both buyer and seller. In the
southern part, and on the islands, there is considerable vegetation
and forests of large trees; and it is said that there is some mineral
wealth. But the greater part of the territory is essentially Arctic. It
now bears the designation of the Territory of Alaska, an abbreviation
of Aliaska, the name of the peninsula stretching into the North
Pacific Ocean.

Little information has as yet been gained of this region. The

most important is the result of a journey up the River Yukon,
performed in 1866 by Mr. Frederick Whymper, an artist connected
with the Telegraph Expedition. This telegraph enterprise was
undertaken in the confident expectation that the cables laid directly
across the Atlantic would fail, and that telegraphic communications
between London and New York must be mainly by land. The
proposed line, starting from the mouth of the Amoor, to which point
it was already constructed, should bend around the head of the Sea
of Okotsch, thence run eastward and northward through Kamchatka
to the 63d degree of north latitude, then cross the narrow Strait of
Bering, and run southward through what was then Russian America,
British Columbia, Washington Territory, and Oregon, to San
Francisco; thence across the American continent to New York. A
dispatch from London to New York by this route would travel
something more than 25,000 miles, while the distance in a straight
line across the Atlantic was about 3000 miles. The company
undertaking this enterprise had surveyed a considerable part of the
distance, and expended some millions of dollars, when it was
announced that the Atlantic cable was a success, and the work was
abandoned.
In the mean while Mr. Whymper undertook a trip up the great
River Yukon. This is essentially an Arctic river, though its mouth is far
southward of the Arctic Circle. It is probably the greatest of the
Arctic rivers, and in length and volume of water is exceeded by not
more than six rivers of the globe.
The party of which Mr. Whymper was one consisted of six
Europeans and three Indians. In October, 1865, they started from
Unalachleet, on Norton Sound. A trip of 200 miles would bring them
to Nulato, a Russian trading-post 700 miles from the mouth of the
river, which here runs almost parallel with the coast.
They were to travel on foot over frozen rivers and through deep
snow. To convey their supplies they had four sledges, each drawn by
five dogs. Such a team will draw about 350 pounds. The dogs of this
region are not of a good class. Mr. Whymper thinks they have in
them quite as much of the wolf as of the dog. Their usual food is
fish; their regular daily allowance in winter is a dried salmon a day:
in summer they are expected to fish for themselves. They will,
however, eat almost any thing, and, if they can get enough, will
grow fat upon it. They even took kindly to beans, provided they
were boiled soft—a thing which Kane could never induce his
Esquimaux dogs to undertake.
They set out on the 27th of October at 11 o’clock—that is, just
after sunrise—the thermometer standing at 30° below freezing-
point. Their trip was begun a little too early, for the deep snow had
not become packed hard, and a bit of thaw would transform it into
slush; and the streams which they had to cross were not all frozen
over. Fortunately, they had a light skin boat, which not only stood
them in good stead now, but served them afterwards for more than
a thousand miles of winter travel. Whenever they came to a frozen
stream, the Indians would break a hole through the ice to get a
draught of water. They always filled up the hole with loose snow,
through which they sucked the water. This they said was to filter out
the little red worms with which they said the water was infested.
The travellers wore snow-shoes; the use of which, although
indispensable in going over the soft snow, is very fatiguing, obliging
the wearers to lift a dozen pounds of snow at every step. Sometimes
they had to break a path for the sledges. The men would go on
ahead for a space, then return and start on again, thus traversing
the distance three times. Often they could not accomplish more than
ten miles a day.
 102. THE FROZEN YUKON.

At noon on the 11th of November, a fortnight after starting, they

caught in the distance a glimpse of a faint bluish streak, varying the
white monotony of the scene. This they knew marked the course of
the great river towards which they were tending. Pushing eagerly
on, at sunset they broke out of the woods, shot down a steep bank,
and stood on an immense plain of snow-covered ice. It was the
Yukon, frozen solidly over as far as the eye could reach, except that
here and there was a faint streak of open water. From bank to bank
the distance was more than a mile, and this they afterwards found
was the normal breadth of the river for seven hundred miles below,
and a thousand miles above. Not unfrequently it spread out into
broad lagoons four or five miles wide. The Yukon is one of the great
rivers of the globe. In length and volume of water it is exceeded only
by the Amazon, the Mississippi, and perhaps the Plata. It exceeds
the Nile, the Ganges, the Volga, the Amoor, and has affluents to
which the Rhine and Rhone are but brooks. It rises far within the
British Possessions, and its head-waters almost interlock with those
of the Mackenzie, which empties into the Arctic Ocean. A portage of
only eighty miles intervenes between these rivers at points where
each is navigable for boats forty feet long, and drawing two feet of
water. Over this portage the Hudson’s Bay Company transport upon
men’s backs the goods for trading with the Indians on the Upper
Yukon. Mr. Whymper thinks that a flat-bottomed stern-wheel
steamer, like those used on the Upper Mississippi, could ascend the
Yukon for eighteen hundred miles, and tap the whole fur-bearing
region. But as the river is frozen solid for eight months out of the
twelve, the steamer could hardly make more than one trip a year.

103. UNDER-GROUND HOUSE.

The travellers stopped two days at the Indian winter village of

Coltog. The houses were built mainly under-ground. First, a little
shanty is put up, under which a hole like a well is dug; thence a
branch like a sewer runs some yards, along which one must crawl on
hands and knees to reach the proper dwelling, which is a square
hole in the earth, over which is raised a low dome-shaped roof, with
a hole in the top to let out the smoke of the fire, which is built
directly underneath. When the fire gets low the smoke-hole is
covered with a skin, which keeps in not only the heat but the
manifold scents engendered by the crowded occupancy. The slight
heat from below makes the roof a favorite trysting-place for the
dogs, and every now and then one comes tumbling down through
the smoke-hole upon the fire below, adding the odor of singed hair
to those arising from stale fish, old skin garments, and other
unnamable abominations. Coltog is a rather favorable sample of an
Indian winter village in Alaska.
 From Coltog the travellers proceeded up the river two days’
journey to Nulato, the most northern and most inland of the Russian
Company’s fur-posts. It stands in latitude 65°, and longitude 158°,
upon a level slip of land bounded on two sides by the great river and
one of its main branches. Notwithstanding the high latitude, trees of
considerable size grow there, and during the brief summer the grass
is luxuriant, and berries abound. The post is a little fortress,
surrounded by a picket, which is closed at night to exclude the
Indians, who camp around in large numbers. The house
appropriated to the travellers was built of logs, forming one side of
the little square. The windows were of seal-gut instead of glass; and
as there is during the winter only two or three hours of daylight, the
light was never any of the best. By caulking the floor with moss, and
carpeting it with skins, the main room was kept comfortably warm,
except near the floor. If one hung a damp garment from the rafters
it would steam at the top, while frozen stiff at the bottom. The
temperature at the roof was sometimes 65°, while near the floor it
was 4°. Water for daily use was hauled on a sledge from the river. To
get at it, they were obliged to break through solid ice four feet thick.
Nevertheless, the Indians contrive to catch immense quantities of
fish by constructing a weir of wicket-work, and keeping holes open
in the ice.
 104. FISH-TRAPS ON THE YUKON.

Winter fairly set in soon after the party had taken up their abode
at Nulato. On the 2d of November the thermometer indicated the
moderate temperature of 2° above zero. It suddenly fell to 20°
below zero, and kept on steadily falling until the 5th of December,
when it sunk to 58° below zero, that is, ninety degrees below the
freezing-point of water. This was the coldest day, but there were
during December and January eleven days when the thermometer
sunk below the freezing-point of mercury. It is to be noted that after
a certain point the human system seems to take little additional note
of the temperature as indicated by the thermometer. When the
mercury froze, 72° below the freezing-point of water, it did not seem
very cold, provided there was no wind; while one day when the
thermometer was 44° higher, we find this note: “A north wind blew,
and made us feel the cold very decidedly. It is wonderful how
searching the wind is in this northern climate; each little seam, slit,
or tear in your fur or woollen clothing makes you aware of its
existence, and one’s nose, ears, and angles generally are the special
sufferers.” One day when the thermometer stood at 10°, an
expedition started off for the coast: and once when it was at 32°, a
half-clad Indian came to the post with his child, no better clad,
bringing some game; he did not seem to think the day remarkably
cold. The shortest day of the winter was December 21, when the
sun was an hour and fifty minutes above the horizon.

105. AURORA AT NULATO.

During the winter Mr. Whymper made many capital sketches out-
of-doors, while the temperature was sixty degrees below freezing-
point. Among these is a remarkable aurora borealis on the 21st of
December. It was not the conventional arch, but a graceful,
undulating, ever-changing snake of pale electric light; evanescent
colors, pale as those of a lunar rainbow, ever and again flitting
through it, and long streamers and scintillations moving upward to
the bright stars, which shone distinctly through its hazy ethereal
form. The night was beautifully calm and clear; cold, but not
intensely so, the thermometer standing at +16°.
So passed the long winter months. Early in April there came
signs of summer—for in the Arctic regions there is properly no spring
or autumn. On the 9th flies made their appearance. Next day the
willows were seen budding. But for another fortnight the weather
was variable. On the 28th the first goose put in his appearance. But
for another fortnight the ice in the river remained unbroken. The
first sign of breaking up was on the 12th of May. That day
mosquitoes showed themselves. Next day came swallows and wild
geese in abundance. Still another fortnight, during which a steady
stream of broken ice came down, bearing with it whole trees torn up
from the banks. On the 24th of May the river was tolerably clear of
ice.

106. BREAKING UP OF THE ICE.

The Russians had already got ready for a trading-excursion up

the Yukon to an Indian trading-place 240 miles above, the farthest
point ever visited by them. They had a huge skin boat, fitted with
mast and sail, manned by eight men, carrying, besides men and
provisions, two tons of goods. The Americans went with them,
though meaning to go far beyond. They had their own little boat,
laden with six or seven hundred pounds of stores of all kinds. The
river was still full of ice and drift-wood. A large tree would
sometimes pass under the bow of the Russian boat, and fairly lift it
out of the water. These skin boats seem to be the best of all for this
kind of navigation. They give way without harm to a blow which
would break through a bark canoe.
One can scarcely conceive the rapidity with which summer
comes on in these regions. On the 27th of May the river was yet full
of ice. Ten days after they had to lie by during the noontide heat,
the thermometer standing at 80° in the shade.
The Americans reached Fort Yukon on the 9th of June, having, in
twenty-nine days, rowed and tracked six hundred miles. A few
weeks later, with the current in their favor, they descended the same
space in seven days. Fort Yukon lies a little within what was formerly
Russian America, and the Hudson’s Bay Company paid a small sum
for the privilege of its occupancy. Here the Americans remained a
month, being hospitably entertained. The fort had quite a civilized
look. There were freshly-plastered walls, glazed windows, open
fireplaces, magazines, store-houses, and a great fur-room. Camped
around were Indians of many tribes, locally designated as “Foolish
Folks,” “Wood Folks,” “Birch-bark Folks,” “Rat Folks,” “Hill Folks,” and
the like. Some wore their native costumes; others were tricked out
in the odds and ends of civilized attire. The fur-room was a rare
sight. From the beams hung marten-skins by the thousand, while
the cheaper sorts were lying in huge heaps on the floor. Skins are
here the regular currency. The beaver is the unit, estimated at about
half a dollar. Two martens count as one beaver, and so on by a
recognized scale. Fox-skins are numerous. The most valuable is that
of the black fox, worth twenty times more than any other. There is a
story that an unlucky employé of the company once bought the skin
of a white fox, which the Indian seller had cunningly dyed black,
paying for it more pounds than he should have paid shillings. The
overplus was deducted from his salary.
 107. FORT YUKON.

On the 8th of July the travellers started on their return journey,

under a salute from their hospitable hosts. They canoed down the
river day and night, only stopping two or three times a day to
prepare their tea and cook their fish. It was a holiday excursion, the
current sweeping them along at the rate of four miles an hour. Once,
by aid of rowing, they made forty-five miles in seven hours. They
followed the river clear to its mouth. For the seven hundred miles
below Nulato, near where they had struck the river on their upward
journey, the region is comparatively poor. It lies out of the way of
traders; fish are plenty and cheap enough. Five needles were
considered a fair price for a thirty-pound salmon; and, says Mr.
Whymper, “tobacco went farther than we had ever known it to do
before.” On the 23d of July they reached the mouth of the river,
whence two days’ sailing up the coast brought them to St. Michael’s.
The whole voyage of 1300 miles between Fort Yukon and St.
Michael’s had taken fifteen and a half days. At St. Michael’s they
were told that the telegraphic enterprise had been abandoned, and
that all employed in it were to return to California.
 108. A DEER CORRAL.

The result of this expedition adds considerably to our knowledge

of the Arctic regions. It confirms what has been told us by
Richardson, Kane, Hall, and all other Arctic explorers as to the
superabundance of animal life existing in certain seasons in the
northern regions. Strange as it may seem, tropical and semi-tropical
countries are almost bare of living creatures. Strain and his party
wandered for weeks through the thick forests of Central America,
never seeing an animal, and rarely a bird, and the river appeared to
be almost destitute of fish. But life abounds in the Arctic regions.
The rivers swarm with fish almost begging to be caught. The
Kamchatdales have reindeer by the thousand. Whymper and his
friends, during their brief stay at Nulato, bought the skins of eight
hundred white hares with which to cover their blankets; the Indians
had used the flesh for food. Moose-meat, varied by beaver, is the
standing food of those who have got tired of salmon. The delicacies
are a moose’s nose and a beaver’s tail. So abundant are the moose
on the Yukon that the natives think it hardly worth while to waste
powder and shot in killing them. When an Indian in his canoe comes
upon a moose swimming in the water, he gives chase until the
creature is fatigued, and then stabs it to the heart with his knife.
They have also an ingenious way of corralling deer. They build a long
elliptical inclosure of stakes upon a trail made by the deer. Between
each pair of stakes is a slip-noose. A herd of deer is driven into this
inclosure; they try to run out between the stakes, get caught by the
nooses, and so fall a ready prey to the guns of the hunters.

109. LIP ORNAMENTS.

The native population of Alaska is estimated at about 60,000.

From the southern boundary up to Mount St. Elias and on the islands
live the Koloschians, estimated at 20,000. They are of middling
stature, of copper-colored complexion, with round faces, thick lips,
and black hair. The men wear various ornaments in their ears and
noses; the women, when young, insert a piece of ivory in a slit made
in the under lip, increasing it in size from year to year, until at last
the ornament gets to be four inches wide, projecting six inches from
the side of the face. The baidars or canoes of the Koloschians are
dug out of a single tree, and will carry from twelve to fifty persons.
They are usually propelled by paddles, though upon long voyages
they are rigged with two or more masts and sails of matting or
canvas. They, and indeed all of the tribes, do not bury their dead,
but deposit their remains in an oblong box raised upon posts, with
the canoe and other possessions of the deceased over the box.

110. A BAIDAR.

Next northward of the Koloschians come the Kenaians, who

stretch almost across the continent to Hudson’s Bay. Those living
upon the Yukon call them Co-yukons, that is, People of the Great
River, “Yukon” in their language signifying river. They are much
feared by the surrounding tribes, and have often given no little
trouble to their Russian masters. Many of these wear a bone
ornament stuck through the septum of the nose.

111. FOUR-POST COFFIN.

The Aleuts, who inhabit the Aleutian Islands are, to a

considerable extent, of mixed blood, Russian and Koloschian. They
have advanced in civilization far beyond any other of the Esquimaux
race. Not a few of them have received a fair education, and among
the priests of the Greek Church there are not a few who go through
the service of the church in the Greek language, with a full
understanding of the words of the service.
 112. TANANA INDIAN.

Quite nine-tenths of the whole territory of Alaska is purely Arctic,

and is not only uninhabited but uninhabitable. The other tenth is
now sparsely inhabited, and there is little reason to suppose that the
population will ever be greatly beyond its present number. Except in
special cases, the possible population of a country is measured by its
agricultural capacity. Leaving out of view the extreme northern parts
of Alaska, the best accounts as yet accessible show that at St.
Michael’s lettuce, parsnips, and turnips can be raised by sowing
them in beds. At Fort Yukon potatoes not much larger than cherries
can be raised. At Sitka potatoes will grow a little larger. On some of
the islands the inhabitants can even venture upon barley. The forest-
trees, which flourish in isolated parts, will soon be exhausted, as far
as any profitable use of them is concerned. Fish and furs constitute
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